A Statement from the Crown Council of Ethiopia
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of His Imperial Highness the Duke of Harrar, Prince Wossen Seged Makonnen Haile Selassie (August 21, 1947 – November 10, 2021) after a long illness. His Imperial Highness was 74.
Prince Wossen Seged, (commonly referred to as “Paul”) was born in Addis Ababa, on the 21st of August, 1947 to Their Imperial Highnesses Prince Makonnen Haile Selassie and Princess Sara Gizaw, the Duke and Duchess of Harrar. He was thus a grandson of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and Empress Menen Asfaw of Ethiopia. After the death of his father Prince Makonnen in May 1957, Prince Wossen Seged succeeded as Duke of Harrar just a few months before his 10th birthday. Prince Wossen Seged attended Millfield School and Gordonstoun School in the United Kingdom as well as the Leysin American School in Vaud, Switzerland. He was among the members of the Imperial family to be imprisoned by the Derg regime following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1974 under harsh conditions and was released in 1989. Many of us in exile in the diaspora worked to free him and the other prisoners in our family for years without success.
Prince Wossen Seged had an independent mind and a keen sense of observation. Like so many of his generation, he was politically a progressive. He always had a place in his heart for the less fortunate among us, which made him popular with the Ethiopian people. He paid the price of imprisonment solely because of the accident of his birth. After his release, he carried the pain of those years with quiet dignity. He had been given responsibility by His Majesty at a young age. This and his suffering under the Derg must have been a great burden to him. But his personality and charisma never diminished. His humility and personal charm were infectious to all who knew him. He lived an exceptional life.
We remember his wife Connie Quave for the years of life they shared together. Our prayers in these difficult days ahead are with her and his brothers, Prince Mikael Makonnen, Prince Tafari Makonnen, and Prince Beede Mariam Makonnen. May God comfort them and the entire Imperial family, and may He rest the soul of Prince Wossen Seged in paradise.
